Charles Leclerc topped the only practice session for the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris.
So the stage is set for another round in the fight for the 2024 Formula 1 constructors' championship between the two title protagonists, Ferrari and McLaren.
With Leclerc leading Norris, it was Oscar Piastri who was third fastest in the sister McLaren while Carlos Sainz was fourth in the other Ferrari.
Yuki Tsunoda was fifth fastest for VCARB with Valtteri Bottas surprisingly sixth fastest for the Sauber after a superb lap in the last minute.
Lance Stroll was seventh fastest in the Aston Martin ahead of George Russell, eighth in the Mercedes who clearly were not enjoying the same form they displayed in Las Vegas one week ago.
Alex Albon was ninth fastest for Williams as Lewis Hamilton was tenth while newly crowned champion, Max Verstappen, was 11th in the Red Bull having failed to set a proper lap on the Softs in the end after an error, so while his situation may not be as bad as his finishing position suggests, Red Bull have some work to do to compete with the Ferraris and the McLarens.
Buildup towards FP1
F1 heads into the penultimate round of the 2024 season, a long one, and it will be the final Sprint format weekend and the second race in the final triple header this year.
Jetting directly from Las Vegas, the sport will be in action for the second weekend in a row and while Verstappen wrapped up the drivers' championship, securing his fourth consecutive crown, the constructors' title is still up for grabs.
Three teams are in the running for the 2024 F1 constructors' championship as McLaren lead second-placed Ferrari by 24 points while defending champions, Red Bull Racing are 53 points adrift from the lead.
While Red Bull still have a mathematical chance to successfully retain their title, it is a tough ask for them to do so, especially as Verstappen is the only driver in their lineup delivering the points.
And while nothing can be ruled out in F1, the focus will be on the battle between McLaren and Ferrari. The former are targeting their first constructors' title since 1998 while the latter are looking to taste their first success since 2008.
As for the tyres, Pirelli have gone for the harder side as they brought the C1 (Hard), C2 (Medium), and C3 (Soft) compounds this weekend.
The Pirelli rubber will not be punished this year at the Lusail International Track as was the case in 2023 when the high kerbs caused tyre failure which made the Italian manufacturer dictate the stint length of each tyre compound.
The original kerb design aimed at preventing drivers from exceeding the track limits so as a compensation, the organizers have added gravel strips around the kerbs that were re-profiled.
In terms of car upgrades, only Alpine and Sauber have brought new parts. Alpine have a reprofiled front wing with shorter nose while Sauber have a new front wing with revised top elements.
This is the only practice session the teams will have to set their cars up as Sprint qualifying will be next. So who will nail the setup immediately?
FP1 Session Highlights
The session started as the sun started to set over Lusail with track temperature at 26 degrees Celsius while the air temperature was at 21.
The drivers did not waste any time setting out on track with all of them running the medium tyres except for Leclerc and Sainz who were on the Hard. The same applied to the Williams drivers, Albon and Franco Colapinto.
"Brakes feel pretty rubbish, not much bite," Russell soon reported over the team radio.
Hamilton later reported: "I just have no stability."
It seems the W15 was not functioning as good as it was in Las Vegas.
The traffic was evidently an issues with Liam Lawson complaining about Sergio Perez while Fernando Alonso said he almost crash due to drivers slowing down.
Alonso said: "Ah, I nearly crashed in Four and Five! "Everyone slowed down."
Another challenge the drivers had to deal with were the windy conditions as replay showed Perez catching a snap at Turn 15 but ended up in the gravel trap.
Colapinto also had a moment.
Then it was Norris' turn as he had a similar off at Turn 5 and then Piastri, in the sister McLaren had an off-track moment at Turn 15, with over 30 minutes gone from the session. It seems he was caught out by a gust of wind.
"Can you check the front of the car?" was the message from Pierre Gasly who lost his car at Turn 13 and went into the run-off area giving his A524 a beating.
In the second half of the session, Ferrari was leading the timing screens with Leclerc fastest followed by Sainz, as Norris and Verstappen were third and fourth.
But just a few moments later, Sainz went even faster and topped the timing screens, over three and a half tenths clear of his teammate.
Leclerc had a moment with Norris and was not happy, he radioed: "I don't know what the hell Norris is doing!"
Perez on the other hand seemed impressed with McLaren, he reported: "That McLaren is flying."
In the meantime Esteban Ocon was stuck in the Alpine garage as the mechanics seemed to be working on an issue. He had only nine laps on the board.
The Frenchman then made it back on track in the final 15 minutes.
With less than ten minutes remaining, the Soft tyres finally made their debut first with the Williams' pair. The qualifying simulations were on.
With 5 minutes remaining, Nico Hulkenberg reported that he went off at Turn 13 and boxed for inspection. Verstappen also had a moment at Turn 15 while on his fast lap on Softs.
The session was concluded with practice starts.
How they finished
Leclerc posted a 1:21.953 to go fastest of all and 0.425s clear of Norris who was second while Piastri was 0.047s further down the road in third and 0.110s ahead of fourth-placed Sainz.
Tsunoda was fifth, 1.092s off the pace and 0.019s ahead of Bottas in sixth.
Stroll posted a lap time of 1:23.099 to go seventh fastest and 0.061s faster than Russell who was eighth fastest in the Mercedes.
Albon was 0.001s behind Russell in ninth and 0.027s clear of Hamilton in tenth.
Verstappen was 1.260s off the pace in 11th.
Qatar Grand Prix FP1 Classification
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